Simoom
On Simoom we hear three of Lois V. Vierk's works for "big instruments," that is, multiples of the same instrument, treated more like single entities than like groups of voices: Go Guitars for five electric guitars tuned microtonally around "E," Cirrus for six trumpets, and Simoom for eight cellos. All three works employ what Vierk describes as "Exponential Structure," which utilizes exponential relationships to control time, pitch movement and rates of change. Within this system, Vierk creates v…
Trauermusiken
Two compositions by the young Austrian composer/organist Klaus Lang who currently lives in Berlin/Germany. Der Wind und das Meer for viola (Barbara Konrad, viola) The Sea of Despair for String Quartet (Amras Streichquartett)
Complete Short Works for Prepared Piano
The complete short prepared piano works collected on 2-CDs. John Cage's works for prepared piano expose his earliest experimentations in finding new and exotic sounds.Brief and attractive, they are among his most accessible work. This release marks the first time all of his short works for prepared piano have been made available in one set. All the prepared piano works are included aside from the magnum opus, Sonatas and Interludes. Pianist Philipp Vandr´e has recorded Sonatas and Interludes for…
A Cage of Saxophones 2
The 35th volume in Mode's Complete John Cage Edition is also the second release in Ulrich Krieger's series of interpretations for solo saxophone and saxophones with other instruments. Ensemble pieces of comparatively large dimensions were gathered on A Cage of Saxophones: Vol. 1, so this follow-up disc presents pieces for smaller combinations and solos, though with no less originality or charm. Even though most of these works were composed for open instrumentation, saxophones suit Cage's …
From Zero
Four films on JOHN CAGE by Frank Scheffer and Andrew Culver. Mode celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2004 with the release of a major film on John Cage by renowned Dutch director Frank Scheffer in collaboration with Cage's long-time associate Andrew Culver. The group of films, entitled From Zero, are:* 19 QUESTIONS: Cage answers 19 questions on a variety of subjects, using chance operations to determine the duration of his colorful and often witty answers. A unique opportunity to view the Cagean…
Clepsydra, Astray
**Restock of a rare, must-have record for contemporary music lovers. Comes with 4-page 12" booklet ** Great dense orchestral scraping and bowing from 1982 & 1983 by Romanian composer Horatiu Radulescu (1942-2008), among the great masters of Spectralism and subharmonics. This absorbing LP includes two groundbreaking works centered around the 'Sound Icons' - pianos standing on their sides, played with bows between the strings. On side A is the hypnotic, otherworldly Clepsydra for 16 Sound Icons (E…
Advance of the Fungi
Advance of the Fungi - (chamber works 1960-66) - Time on Time in Miracles for soprano, 2 horns, 2 trombones, piano, cello & percussion; Mod 3 for flute, percussion & contrabass; Holy Ghost Vacuum or America Faints for electric organ; Advance of the Fungi for male choir, 3 clarinets, 3 trombones, 2 horns, & 1 percussion; Two Worlds for soprano, flute, oboe, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello & contrabass; Bestiary 1: Eingang for soprano, piano & 5 percussionists.
The Previous Evening
Former Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith pays homage to three giants of contemporary classical music: John Cage, Morton Feldman and Earle Brown. In his own inimitable fashion, Frith has tried to incorporate the chosen composer's own working methods into each of the three pieces that make up The Previous Evening. As he explains in the enclosed booklet regarding his John Cage homage: 'Fragments of text heard in Part 1 were taken at random from Cage's book Silence. Tape editing, the structure of the e…
Franco Evangelisti
The first CD release of works by Franco Evangelisti (1926-1980), the founder of Nuova Consonanza (infamous early '60s Italian avant garde ensemble that included Mario Bertoncini, Roland Kayn, Ennio Morricone, Frederic Rzewski and others). This two disc retrospective features studio audio-footage and lab-experiments, featuring performers Aloys Kontarsky, David Tudor, Eberhard Blüm and the LaSalle Quartet. Spanning the last 40 years, virtually all forms of post-1950 invention are represented here …
Music for piano
Douvle CD set with recordings by the legendary 20th century avantgarde pianist performing compositions by (and with) John Cage, Sylvano Bussotti, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff.
Ever Present
Awesome collection of new, post-2000 works by Alvin Lucier. It's a been a long time since "I Am Sitting In A Room" for sure, but the dude clearly understands how to fill a room with sound as well as most anyone alive. "Alvin Lucier's (b. 1931) works on this CD, for solos and trios, continue to explore his unique sound world, exploration of microtones, and use of unusual instrumentation. 'Piper' is probably one of the few avant-garde pieces composed for the bagpipe. The piper is asked to walk slo…
Navigation for strings. Small waves
"'Navigations for Strings': For String Quartet. 'Small Waves': For String Quartet, Trombone, Piano and Two Water Pourers. The Arditti Quartet: Hildegard Kleeb, Roland Dahinden. Alvin Lucier (b. 1931) has been a pioneer in many areas of music composition and performance, including the notation of performers' physical gestures, the use of brain waves in live performance, the generation of visual imagery by sound in vibrating media, and the evocation of room acoustics for musical purposes. 'Navigat…
Horbare Okosysteme: Live elektronic compositions 1993-2005
Live electronic compositions from 1993-2005 by composer Agostino Di Scipio, using acoustic instruments and digital sound processing to create unusual and previously unheard sound worlds.
Melody, Ergodicity and Indeterminacy
Barton Workshop. James Fulkerson & Frank Denyer, directors. First Recordings. "James Tenney (1934-2006) was probably the first composer to develop an aesthetic for computer music, realizing that electronic music almost forced the composer to accept noise as music and to abandon the idea of absolute control over a composition. He came to accept Cage's passion for randomness, but from a different angle: computer music can be "unpredictable" (rather than "random"). This CD looks at how Tenney…